Luis Suarez endured a testing afternoon on the outskirts of Madrid as Getafe did well to frustrate the forward for the duration of the La Liga clash.
The 30-year-old, who has received plenty of critics already this season for his below-par showings, has now scored just one goal in five matches in all competitions.
Suarez started once again in the left forward position, with Lionel Messi occupying the central birth while the world’s second most expensive player, Ousmane Dembele, operated from the right.
However, the ex-Dortmund star departed the field in the 29th minute due to a hamstring injury and was replaced by Gerard Deulofeu.
Although the Catalan giants battled back from a goal down in the second-half to win 2-1, Suarez wasn’t the man behind the turnaround.
It was his namesake, Denis – who scored a stunning equaliser to cancel out Gaku Shibasaki’s superb first-half volley while Paulinho netted a superb individual winner with six minutes remaining to make it 2-1.
Here, we look at Luis Suarez’s performance in-depth:
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BASIC STATS
Goals – 0
Assists – 0
Shots – 0
Dribbles – 0
Passes – 32
Key passes – 0
Pass Accuracy – 77.8%
Touches – 32
Aerials Won – 0
EFFECTIVENESS
The Blaugrana No.9 was ineffective throughout and didn’t offer a single threat on goal.
While he ended up as Barcelona’s highest forward-positioned player in attack, he failed to land a definitive blow to Getafe’s physical defence.
Suarez, Messi and Deulofeu rarely combined to good effect and didn’t seem to be aware of the runs and movements they were making as a collective.
In behind, Suarez didn’t seem to have the pace to cause damage while Barca found it difficult to get the ball to his feet often. It meant he suffered 90 minutes of hard toil.
The difference between an out-of-form Suarez and a quiet Messi – is the latter has the quality to produce something out of nothing. His killer through pass to assist Paulinho’s winner being concrete proof of that.
The forward spent more time on the ground than threatening the Getafe goal.
KEY MOMENTS
31 minutes – Denied a clean header in the box after tussle with Juan Torres Ruiz.
51 minutes – Messi tries to play the Uruguayan through on goal but ball is cleared.
59 minutes – Receives the ball in the box but can’t get a shot away as hosts clear for corner.
73 minutes – Suarez goes into the referee’s notebook for dissent.
OUR VERDICT – 4/10
There was no shortage of effort and commitment – two qualities you can always associate with the former Liverpool star – but he lacked sharpness and plenty else in the final third.
He cut a frustrated figure for the best part of proceedings at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium and was isolated – but he did little to change that with his lacklustre movement.
His booking for arguing with the referee went to show that all is not well with him at the moment.
All statistics are compiled using whoscored.com.
The striker showed commitment but lacked end product.